So, what do you do when you get scammed?
Most people would reach out to a friend, tell family members and make a police report but what comes after finding out that you have been duped is hard to deal with.
There’s that sinking feeling, the shame and embarrassment, self-condemnation, vulnerability and hurt too.
Mixed doubles shuttler Lai Pei Jing understands it just too well. She went through that rollercoaster of emotions after losing all her life savings to scammers.
She would not say how much her losses were but it was bad that all her hard earned money as a shuttler is gone.
Pei Jing called herself a fool for falling victim. She had only tried to be kind.
She would not say who she was being kind to or how it happened but it looks like she had stepped in to help a friend in a business venture without knowing the cruel intention behind the dealings.
“Naturally, I replay the entire scam and fall into a state of blaming myself for my foolishness and kindness,” said Pei Jing.
That’s understandable.
But what is really impressive is what she did next. Instead of wallowing in self-pity and living in embarrassment, she spoke up about it on her social media platforms.
In fact, she is determined to tell her story and expose the scammers so no one else suffer the same heartache.
What’s more, she did not let the pain get to her game. She reached the semi-finals of the Indonesian Open in Jakarta with Tan Kian Meng yesterday at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta.
Now, that is commendable and admirable.
She did not only fight hard on the badminton court with partner Kian Meng but is also ready to fight for a good cause, to prevent any more victims of the scheme.
Pei Jing knows it takes boldness to do what she did.
“It takes courage to speak out because who wants to tell others I was foolishly deceived, right?” she said.
And after Pei Jing spilled the beans on the darkest hour of her life, former international Tan Boon Heong decided to come clean too.
Boon Heong, who has won numerous men’s doubles titles with Koo Kien Keat, said he had been scammed in millions in 2017 but had not spoken up.
He, too, trusted someone who led him into the scam trap. There could be other athletes too with similar experiences but who had chosen to suffer in silence.
Boon Heong has good advice for others.
“Kak, my advice to others is not to trust anyone easily,” he said.
Boon Heong and Pei Jing have learnt plenty of lessons from their ordeals although it may have happened seven years apart.
They know that it does not pay to trust others easily with their life savings no matter how convincing they may sound.
Nothing comes for free and there are no short-cuts to achieving success or to double one’s money.
Like Pei Jing, we should speak up. The more people are made aware of the culprits behind the fraud, the less the chance of the scammers pulling off their tricks.
Let’s smash the scammers.
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